Australian Patent Publication No. AU-A-53527/99, corresponding to U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09/414,558 filed 8 Oct. 1999 discloses a customisable user interface system, the salient components of which are illustrated in FIG. 1A. In this regard, FIG. 1A shows a hardware architecture of an interface system 100 where a smart card 102 incorporating a memory arrangement is pre-programmed to facilitate user access to resources available via a computer network 105, such as the Internet. The smart card 102 is provided with a number of icons 104 or the like that are typically each representative of a particular function or access. The smart card 102 is insertable into a smart card reader 106 that is provided with electrical connectors 108 configured to couple to complementary connectors (not seen in FIG. 1A) of the smart card 102 to enable a reading of the data in the memory arrangement thereof. The reader 106 is provided with a transparent touch panel 110 arranged so that when the smart card 102 is inserted into the reader 106 and electrical connection is made, each of the icons 104 are able to be viewed through the touch panel 110 whereby a user can depress the touch panel 110 at a location overlying a particular icon 104 and the reader 106 operates to associate a position output from the panel 110 with a mapping stored within the memory arrangement of the smartcard 102. The reader 106 outputs a signal 112 associated with a function or some other predetermined event related to the selected icon 104. Typically, the reader 106 is a hand-held device and communicates with a computing arrangement, generally formed within a so-called “set-top” box 114, that couples to a user output interface, in this example an audio-visual output device 116, such as a television set. The set-top box 114 operates to interpret the signals 112 received from the reader 106, which may be electrical, radio frequency, or infra-red, and according to a specific, possibly proprietary, protocol. The set-top box 114 converts those signals to a form suitable for communication via the network 105 to cause appropriate transmission to a functional destination, which may for example be a server computer 118. The server computer 118 performs the selected function, which in this case and according to the icons 104 of the particular card 102 illustrated, is the retrieval of on-line music video, and provides data to the set-top box 114 which permits reproduction on the output device 116.
The system 100 is customisable by virtue of the user being able to utilize a number of different smart cards 102 to perform corresponding different operations. For example, whereas the illustrated smart card 102 is used to retrieve and cause reproduction of on-line music video by way of the television set, other functions may be performed such as electronic banking, home shopping, ordering home delivery fast food such a pizza, and the like. In each instance, insertion of an appropriate smart card 102 into the reader 106 causes a corresponding computer application to commence operation, either within the set-top box 114 or within the server computer 118, in order to service user commands entered via the reader 106 and to return appropriate information for audio-visual feedback to the user. For example, associated with each of the above noted functions would typically be one or more menu displays which, in concert with the reader 106, form a graphical user interface on the output device 116 by which the user can check selections being made (eg. pizza style to be ordered, toppings, payment methods) prior to actually confirming each or any function.
An example of this is illustrated in FIGS. 1B to 1D where, having inserted the smart card 102 into the reader 106, the application commences, for example on the server computer 118, and which returns to the set-top box 114 for display on the output device a first menu screen 120 relating to the function to be performed, in this case a selection of “Blues Guitar Masters”. Using the reader interface device 106 and by selecting appropriate icons 104, the user can scroll through the various offerings to make a desired selection, in this case for an artist called “Young Dead Guy”. A further menu screen 122 is then displayed as seen in FIG. 1C advising the user of the possible selections that may be made. The user again scrolls, and makes a desired selection. The application then retrieves the selection, which in this case is a music video, which is then streamed to the set-top box 114 for appropriate output 124 as seen in FIG. 1D. Since the music video is, in effect, a series of “live” images, as compared to the substantially static images of the menu screens 120 and 122, the music video may advantageously be obtained and/or streamed from another (server) location on the network 105 not associated with the generation of the menu screens 120 and 122.
It follows therefore that the set-top box 114, whether a simple “dumb” device, or an advanced device akin to a desktop or home computer, must be able to interpret and cause appropriate display and/or audio output on the device 116 of a range of data types, which may be sourced from direct video feed from the network 105 in the case of music-video reproduction, static or animated computer graphical representations, bitmap or pixel map (pixmap) images and perhaps via one or more various coding schemes. Further, different data types place differing demands on the network 105 and the application operating within the server computer 118 or the set-top box 114.
In the described example, whilst the ultimate product received is expensive in terms of network usage, it is always desirable to minimize the amount of data required to be communicated over any network. The range of data types that may be used by various applications, dependent upon the smart card chosen by the user at any one time, complicates this issue in that some optimisation processes applicable to some data types may not be suitable for other data types. Related to this point is the general desire for communications to be realised in real-time, or as close as possible thereto. For video streaming, real-time means the appropriate frame rate to ensure seamless viewing (eg. 25-30 frames per second depending on the format being used). However, for menu images and the like, real-time may be any rate which presents the image at a user-acceptable rate, where there is little or no appreciable delay. In some instances this may, for example, be as long as the time taken for a user to look from a hand-held remote control device 106 to the display unit 116, focus and absorb the information contained therein (perhaps 0.1-2.0 seconds).